Latest news with #Cameron Young
New York Times
5 days ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Cameron Young for the Ryder Cup? Why is Rory McIlroy skipping Memphis? PGA Tour roundtable
We're entering the final stretch of the PGA Tour season, with the beginning of the three-event FedEx Cup playoffs in Memphis. It'll be the return of Scottie Scheffler and a majority of the game's other stars after they all took off for vacation after the Open Championship, though Rory McIlroy is skipping the St. Jude Championship. Advertisement Does that mean anything? Something? And what about the Ryder Cup? The Athletic's Brody Miller, Gabby Herzig and Hugh Kellenberger are here, to talk through the biggest storylines in men's golf at the moment. Brody: At this exact moment, it should not be real at all. One (absolutely awesome) tournament performance in an overall pedestrian season is not enough reason to pick him. We always do this with every recent winner. We must stop! He's No. 34 on DataGolf. There are so many more trustworthy golfers who bring the same traits he does. Now, if Young continues this through the playoffs and contends multiple times this month, I'd welcome him on. He's so talented, an excellent course fit, and his aggressive style should be great in cup golf. But he needs to go earn it. Gabby: I'd say an in-form Cameron Young (No. 15 on the points list) feels not quite as 'in the conversation' as Sam Burns (No. 16). Young will bring new life to the team, he's trending at the perfect moment, and he once won the New York State Open at Bethpage Black as an amateur — so the course fit is there. But if Young doesn't perform in the playoffs, it would make perfect sense for Bradley to take someone like Burns, who is putting lights out this year, is Scottie Scheffler's best friend, and has Ryder Cup experience. Hugh: While I respect Young finally converting an opportunity into a win on the PGA Tour, I'm just not ready to think this is anything more than a guy having a really good week at an opportune time. He's a more familiar name than many of the other bubble candidates for the final two or three spots on the U.S. team, but Ben Griffin, Harris English and Chris Gotterup all have better strokes-gained numbers over the last three months than Young. So is he even the best 'hot at the right time' candidate? Gabby: It almost felt like Bradley was a lock to play after he won the Travelers, but things can change quickly during pre-Ryder Cup summers. Bradley followed the victory with a T41 in Detroit, a T30 at The Open and a missed cut at the Wyndham. If he doesn't make a run at one of the playoff events, I think he'll have a hard time selecting himself. The playing captain role is a lot of pressure for Bradley to willingly endure if there are other Americans who could contribute to the team without distraction. Short of that playoff success, I'm starting to think Bradley should fully devote himself to the captaincy and take the variables off the table. Advertisement Brody: When he won the Travelers, he was objectively playing better golf over the last 12 months than all but maybe four or five Americans. I thought it would be a huge mistake to leave off a good golfer solely because we place so much weight on the importance of the guy picking teams. But his last three starts have been a regression. So, I'm less adamant in my thoughts if he ends the season as, say, the 10th-best American. The question really comes down to how important you think this whole captain thing is. Unless he thrives in the FedEx Cup, he's probably not playing well enough to truly validate being a playing captain. Hugh: He's going to be on the team, that much I'm sure of. I don't even know if there's a way he's not, short of falling out of the top 12 in points (which could happen, I suppose). However, this is falling perfectly into place for the murky middle worst-case scenario we all discussed when he was selected as captain a year ago. If the U.S. doesn't win, it'll be viewed as a massive mistake, no matter how well Bradley plays. And if the U.S. loses AND Bradley struggles, oh boy … there'll be some Stephen A. Smith-level takes coming out of that media center. Hugh: While understanding all the reasons why the PGA Tour has to hold a playoff, it highlights the fact that golf and a playoff are just never really going to happen. The sport is too sponsor-dependent to select a format that has real, win-or-go-home stakes. But the tour needs some incentive to make sure Scottie Scheffler, McIlroy and the rest don't disappear after the Open Championship, so here we are trucking through the American South in August with big piles of cash on the line. It's not a problem if McIlroy is the outlier, but it becomes one if this is the start of a trend. Brody: It's a problem in the big picture of the playoffs. McIlroy is making it abundantly clear that a top player doesn't need to play in the first round of the playoffs to qualify for the Tour Championship, and in the new format, his place in the top 30 won't matter. That is a pretty substantial problem for trying to make all three events matter. It's still a good tournament with plenty of stars in Memphis, and the intrigue of golfers trying to make the season top 50 always interests me. But I'm worried about what McIlroy's absence says about the new Tour Championship. Gabby: Yes, but this is an extremely Rory McIlroy-specific problem. McIlroy has elected to skip several signature events in the past, and he's been vocal about his shifting priorities after winning the Masters. I don't see this being a prevalent loophole used by other top stars (that, if you're firmly in the top-30 in the FedEx Cup, there is no incentive to improve your status in the ranking — starting strokes at the Tour Championship don't exist anymore). That being said, the PGA Tour should absolutely have its top players locked in to play each of the three playoff events to close out the season with must-see TV. Perhaps McIlroy wouldn't feel compelled to skip Memphis if the event … wasn't in scorching hot Memphis. Brody: Spieth. Schauffele's frustrating 2025 can be written off as a weird, injury-delayed outlier in an otherwise consistent career. He has absolutely nothing to prove, and it helps that Schauffele has played well in all four majors with four top 30s and two top 10s. But Spieth is both fighting to make a Ryder Cup team and to return to being an elite golfer. He's shown progress since his 2024 wrist surgery, but if he still misses the Tour Championship, it will be three years without a win and four years since he's played like a top-tier golfer. That's more difficult to come to terms with. Advertisement Gabby: Spieth needs to make it to Atlanta if he has any chance of making the Ryder Cup team. He's coming off his wrist surgery and managed four top-10 finishes this season, but we really haven't seen Spieth truly contend for a win since 2023. Spieth already had to rely on sponsor exemptions to get into several signature events this year, and any downward mobility would put him at risk of needing those again in 2026. But really, Spieth has to give Keegan Bradley a reason to pick him for the U.S. team these next few weeks. Schauffele has had a strange year with costly absences and rust, but he won half of the majors last year. He'll be fine. Hugh: As much as I'd love to make the contrarian argument that Schauffele deeply needs to be at the Tour Championship, I can't. Injuries stopped his season before it started, and he just never got it going, but he still won two majors a year ago and will be on the Ryder Cup team. He's fine. And in the big picture, the top 30 alone does not change Spieth's career, either. But if he's going to make a Ryder Cup team, it would help! Moreover, he needs to stay in the top 50, because it would be a terrible look to spend another year picking up sponsor exemptions just to get into signature events. (Top photo of Cameron Young: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Is Rory McIlroy playing this week to start PGA Tour's FedEx Cup playoffs?
Rory McIlroy found a loophole in the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup playoffs, and it has become an awkward subplot this week when golf's version of the postseason begins at the 2025 FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis. The 2025 Masters champion said months ago he wanted to play less in 2025, and even hinted at the unorthodox move he might make to follow through on that promise. "I'll probably not play the first playoff event in Memphis," McIlroy told The Telegraph in November 2024. "I mean, I finished basically dead last there this year (tied for 68th in a 70-man field) and only moved down one spot in the playoff standings.' McIlroy has appeared in just 14 PGA Tour events this year after playing in 19 tournaments in 2024, but still ranks No. 2 behind Scottie Scheffler in the FedEx Cup standings. Since he began playing extensively on the PGA Tour in 2009, McIlroy has averaged 16 events per year. So did he follow through on his decision to not start the FedEx Cup playoffs in Memphis? Here's the latest on McIlroy's status heading into the FedEx Cup playoffs and the 2025 FedEx St. Jude Championship: RYDER CUP RANKINGS: New PGA Tour winner Cameron Young moves up in latest U.S. team standings Is Rory McIlroy playing at FedEx St. Jude Championship? No. McIlroy was not included on the official field list for the 2025 FedEx St. Jude Championship, beginning Thursday, Aug. 7 at TPC Southwind in Memphis. His decision to skip the tournament means the field will be set at 69 golfers instead of 70. The top 50 golfers advance to the next round of the FedEx Cup playoffs at the BMW Championships in Owings Mills, Maryland on Aug 14-17. The PGA Tour also eliminated the stroke advantage for the Tour Championship that concludes its FedEx Cup playoffs this year. Instead of giving golfers with the most FedEx Cup points an advantage in the Tour Championship, all golfers will start from even par. In the past, the stroke advantage had made the first two FedEx Cup events more important because they helped determine starting position at East Lake. Why is Rory McIlroy not playing? In September, when McIlroy initially told reporters he wanted to decrease his playing schedule, he noted that he "hit a wall" during the 2024 season. He wound up skipping notable PGA Tour events like The Sentry, the RBC Heritage and Jack Nicklaus' Memorial Tournament this season. "It's been a long season, and I'm going to just have to think about trying to build in a few extra breaks here and there next year and going forward because I felt like I hit a bit of a wall sort of post-U.S. Open, and still feel a little bit of that hangover," McIlroy said last September. He noted at the time that he planned to play 18 to 20 tournaments in 2025. By November, McIlroy had pinpointed the first playoff event in Memphis as one of those additional breaks. He also leads third-place Sepp Straka by more than 800 points in the FedEx Cup standings and already clinched a spot in the BMW Championship next week. Contributing: Jonah Dylan, Memphis Commercial Appeal This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Is Rory McIlroy playing this week at FedEx St. Jude Championship?
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Sports betting roundup: Bettors buying Padres after deadline spree, WNBA title odds are tight
The Major League Baseball trade deadline last week was an exciting event, with numerous teams making moves to bolster their playoff chances. Over the weekend, many players made their debuts with their new teams. There were a number of great games, including some surprises along the way. Trends of the Week Since Thursday's trade deadline at the BetMGM online sportsbook, the Padres (+1600) have taken in the most money (23%) to win the World Series. San Diego was the most active buyer in the league, acquiring eight players, while parting ways with 12 others. As of Monday, San Diego has won seven of its last 10 games and trails the Dodgers by three games in the NL West. Tigers ace Tarik Skubal continued his dominance over the weekend by striking out 10 batters in Detroit's 7-5 win over the Phillies. He's now a huge favorite (-700) to win the AL Cy Young Award. Upsets of the Week On Sunday, the Astros (-125) were the most bet team in terms of number of bets and money against the Red Sox. Boston completed the sweep with a convincing 6-1 win. The Yankees (-115) were the second-most bet team in terms of number of bets and fourth-most bet team in terms of money. Miami also completed a series sweep, with a 7-3 win. On the PGA Tour, Cameron Young won the Wyndham Championship for his first career win. He finished at 22 under, winning by six shots. Going into the week in the outright winner market, he was +5000 and took in 1.3% of the bets and 2% of the money. Coming up There is roughly a month left in the WNBA season, and no team is a clear-cut favorite to win the title. As of Monday, the Lynx are the favorite at +165 but are closely followed by the Liberty at +170. The Mercury (+650), Fever (+1050), and Dream (+1200) round out the top five. ___ This column was provided to The Associated Press by BetMGM online sportsbook. ___ AP sports:
Associated Press
7 days ago
- Sport
- Associated Press
Sports betting roundup: Bettors buying Padres after deadline spree, WNBA title odds are tight
The Major League Baseball trade deadline last week was an exciting event, with numerous teams making moves to bolster their playoff chances. Over the weekend, many players made their debuts with their new teams. There were a number of great games, including some surprises along the way. Trends of the Week Since Thursday's trade deadline at the BetMGM online sportsbook, the Padres (+1600) have taken in the most money (23%) to win the World Series. San Diego was the most active buyer in the league, acquiring eight players, while parting ways with 12 others. As of Monday, San Diego has won seven of its last 10 games and trails the Dodgers by three games in the NL West. Tigers ace Tarik Skubal continued his dominance over the weekend by striking out 10 batters in Detroit's 7-5 win over the Phillies. He's now a huge favorite (-700) to win the AL Cy Young Award. Upsets of the Week On Sunday, the Astros (-125) were the most bet team in terms of number of bets and money against the Red Sox. Boston completed the sweep with a convincing 6-1 win. The Yankees (-115) were the second-most bet team in terms of number of bets and fourth-most bet team in terms of money. Miami also completed a series sweep, with a 7-3 win. On the PGA Tour, Cameron Young won the Wyndham Championship for his first career win. He finished at 22 under, winning by six shots. Going into the week in the outright winner market, he was +5000 and took in 1.3% of the bets and 2% of the money. Coming up There is roughly a month left in the WNBA season, and no team is a clear-cut favorite to win the title. As of Monday, the Lynx are the favorite at +165 but are closely followed by the Liberty at +170. The Mercury (+650), Fever (+1050), and Dream (+1200) round out the top five. ___ This column was provided to The Associated Press by BetMGM online sportsbook. ___ AP sports:
